Hey John, it's Aru with Sunrise Movement,

I just came back from Philadelphia, where I spent this weekend surrounded by a hundred of our most driven leaders. Now, amidst all the chaos of the world, I’m feeling energized. We came together to celebrate our work, hash out conflict, and ultimately, determine the direction of our movement for the next year. 

I’m really proud to be here. Four years ago, Sunrise started to think about how we could be member-led while maintaining a sharp, visionary strategy. Many social movements become toothless non-profits, or grasstops mobilizing groups. They become accountable to foundations first, and changing the world second. We launched a democratic structure and affinity groups like the Black + Latine Caucus to make sure that we stayed rooted - that members could lead the way in our strategy.

 

Now, we’re here - and it’s so clear we made the right choice. This movement is full of leaders who are ready to take the country by storm. I met leaders from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, who told me about their campaign targeting Elon Musk, and from Corvallis, Idaho, who told me about how they just got two people onto the city council. Members from Colorado are introducing four statewide bills this session, and Connecticut just won statewide climate standards in education. And while we do all of our local work, we’re clear that we are a united movement - that we win more when we fight together. That’s what this weekend was about. 

Over the coming months, we’re going to be building, unveiling, and launching our new national campaign, and it’s going to take so many of us working together to succeed.

That’s why today we’re asking you to become a recurring donor. We’re up against the richest people on the planet. They can plan ahead without thinking about money, but we have to make all of our decisions sustainably, and recurring donors help us make those plans more intentionally.

Donate $10 

Together, we can build a movement capable of taking our government back from the billionaires and fossil fuel executives, and averting the climate crisis they imposed on us.

In Solidarity,

Aru